Throughout the Dominican Republic’s rich and difficult history, which includes foreign occupation and a repressive dictator, the festive spirit of its people has allowed the island nation to persevere. The music of the island has helped fight many of the trials presented to it. During the reign of the dictator Trujillo, merengue was proclaimed the official music of the nation, to the shock of many Dominicans. Although the dictator introduced many repressive measures to Dominican society, the freedom of merengue helped the nation cope with the hardships.
The shock of the official recognition of this expressive type of music was exacerbated by the fact that most Dominicans do not accept the African and Haitian roots of the music, despite its similarity to Haitian mereng in dance, rhythm, and in the name. Musicologists debate about whether the music’s origins stem from Afro – hispanic or European roots, but the intertwining of these influence in the music is readily apparent. With a big orchestra format, merengue became a celebrated national form when most other types of native Dominican music were considered crude.
One of the so-called crude forms of music was bachata. The definition of “bachata” meaning something like “a racous party.” The name itself implies so-called “low class” people with “loose” morals. Bachata was played by campesinos – or peasants – whenever a village would get together for a party. The party always included drink, food, dancing and music. These rich roots led the members of privileged classes to ostracize this musical culture from the mainstream. Until the 1980s, the music had the reputation of being “base,” and no self-respecting club would book such a band. Luckily, beginning in the 90’s, the music began to be tolerated, if not loved. Today, both bachata and merengue can be heard at musical venues in the New York metropolitan area, but especially in Washington “Quisqueya” Heights. Bachata, along with merengue, expresses and celebrates the creativity of the too-long-denied working peasant and African roots of Dominican identity. And to forget one’s identity is to forget one’s history.